The Dickinson press., 1887-06-11
OUR NEW ENGLAND NEIGHBORS.
They Write to Their Friends, Describ.
ing the Country aud How They
Like il.

Like it.
The following extracts are from Il
New England City communication APP
pearing in IL recent issue of the Bos-
ton Transcript:
Arriving ut last at Dickinson. Stark
county, Oak, ON the Northern Pacific
Railroad, our journey by rail ceased.
Taking wagons here. with baggage
piled high in the prairie schooner. we
set our faccs,soutl,ward. ovcra rolling
prairie, With here and there IL high.
ti%at-toppcd butte standing out us q.
bold landmark; III trees. not even IL
street. to remind us of home: on we
went, over turf of rich buffalo grass.
forming road as hard us asphalt,
following the trail to Dcadwood. over
which were driven sixty Thousand
cattle last year to Dickinson us u ship
ping point for AN eastern market.
Buffalo trails, as we'll defined as cow
paths i'm New England berry pastures.
crossed IL path in every direction,
b ut always leading to water. Every
few miles We could see little mounds
Of sods, which WE were told were
made hy the cowboys to indicate that
water could he found neal. for with
out water the 10Y and cowboy would
soon perish. Buffalo bones lay scat
tered all yer the plains. reminding
the old soldiers of our party of scenes
t~wenty-o,d years ago when they rode
with Sheridan upon and down the
Shenandoah. Little pits about two
feet deep and ten or Fifteen i'm circum-
ference dotted the plains where the
old bulls of the herds of buifalos
paved and butted the earth in frolic
OF fight. All these signs we were
told would 10 disappear, as the
buffalo were cXterminated by the In.
dianS and white hunters.
-Four years ago these plains rcsoun-
died with the thundcrS of countless
herds of these animals as they roamcd
the prairies. Now not Il solitary one is
here left to tell the tale. We passed
q; ravinr where, u few years ago, the
Sioux penncd i'm Il vast herd, and rid
ing about them, shot and hutrherru
100 in II autumn afternoon. Here
we picked up an Indian buffalo knife.
ground only on one edge, and with Il
handle of buffalo rib-a murdcrous
looking weapon. Through Il prairie
dog town of over five hundred acreS.
dotted with countless little sand heaps.
on each IL of which barkcd II prairie
dog, keeping time with his jerking
tail. 1t was of no use for us to fire ut
them, for even if hit they dropped
into the burrows. which go down to
water.
%IIereabouts we crossed the Custe:
trail, over which he road to death ON
the Seattle Elklorm only Il few years
ago. In our company was one whose
eye was moist and whose voice trem-
bled rs he related how he had followed
this long-haircd. dashing cavalier into
many a fight.
For thirty-six square miles Hettin-
ger county stretches over her broad
and fertile lands, and only yesterday
not a dozen white men made these
fields their temporary home. We
have been here one week, and now
what u change! Five houses dot the
plain, a well is dug. land is ploughed
and planted, and the lowing OK and
neighing horse all remind us that a
village is about to be born.
a corps of surveyors is rapidly
marking off claims. which are quick
ly taken 10y our colonistS as home
steads-many of them getting credit
for three OF four years service in the
army, and by Il strange coincidence,
fought. and bled under Malone and
carries in his body two of our mimic
balls. Yet the bloody chasm is closed,
and the Yank and Confed sit about
our campfire and swap old army lies
as though they had meyer been eager
for one another's blood. How do we
like our lot! you will ask. Well. in
deed, and we can already see in the
near future a reward for our toll and
preparation. \ little hard study now,
and then we shall look back with pride
to these scenes us does the old soldier
to the scenes of battle gone by.
Our lands are excellent; no stones and
stumps; no manure needed, only the
tickling of the plough to make them
laugh with plcnteous crops. Soon our
church and schoolhouse will go up
and then again we shall breathe the
air Of al old-time New England vii
lage transplanted to the virgin soil OF
these fertile plains.
Thn Foundation Of 1857.